What Are You?
by pika318
Summary: Based on the events in Vol 18. After Kinanah wrecks Room 201 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka, Shiba Miki visits Room 201 to fix the damage. Shiba's presence causes physical changes in Lucifer which shocks Camio.


**Moko-Chan** : Groan, another fanfic I've been putting on hold for way too long. Not much of a story per se, more like my take on one of the events of vol 18.

* * *

 **One shot** : What are you?

* * *

"Hey, Camio. Do you think he's going to die?"

Urushihara asked the old demon who loyally served Maou as his secretary softly as he dangled a piece of raw chicken in front of Kinanah.

Kinanah was a demon lizard from the Renberellrebelbe clan and was the holder of the Astral gem, one of the components of the Noah's gear. He used to be energetically thrashing about, eating everything in his sight and demanding for more delicious food, but ever since Maou, Emi, Lailah and Camio took Kinanah to the Demon World to investigate the mysterious underground facility, which contained surprisingly advanced technology, and they got subsequently attacked by the "spacesuit", supposedly the leader of the angels, he had been extremely listless.

Kinanah nudged his nose against the pinkish piece of meat and then laid his head down again.

"That wound isn't a trivial one. But we can't do anything to heal him either, chirp." Camio, now in the form of a large black chicken, shook his head sadly.

As Kinanah was a demon, using holy magic to heal him would probably kill him. But if demonic magic was used, he would likely absorb it, grow bigger and go on a rampage again. In fact, the torn wallpapers, damaged tatami mats and rubble on the floor was the result of Kinanah's previous rampage.

"Well… I guess Maou and Ashiya would forgive me for this." As Urushihara mumbled this statement, he placed his hand above Kinanah's head.

"Wha…. what do you think you're doing, Lucifer?! That's too reckless, chirp!" Camio swiftly jumped over to where the ill lizard was and swatted Urushihara's hand away with his wing.

"Hey! It's better than Kinanah dying, you idiot chicken! He might know something important!" Urushihara glared at Camio, rubbing the back of his hand.

"And have him grow big here?!"

"It's torn up anyway, does it matter? Seriously, first Maou, now you."

Camio glared back.

"I'm not an idiot chicken, you disrespectful brat."

"I'm not a brat." Urushihara's eyes narrowed at the insult that had been thrown at him multiple times over the centuries until he had grown tired of reminding the others about his actual age.

"We can bring him to the park where we found him and attempt to heal him there, chirp. At least if he grows big and causes trouble… the damage will be less I think, chirp."

"... oh. What if other people see us?" Urushihara genuinely looked surprised at that suggestion but there were still other issues to consider.

"You could erase their memories, can't you, chirp?" Camio replied immediately with confidence.

"Well, yeah. But if Ooguro Amane finds out that we're unleashing him in a park, she won't be happy about it." Urushihara thought back to the half-sephirah who showed no hesitation about killing Kinanah.

"I'm quite sure you'll be able to hold her back, Lucifer. For a while at least, chirp."

"Why does it sound like you're pushing all the work to me?" Urushihara commented unhappily.

"Because it's the most logical option. Does it look like I can do anything against the likes of Ooguro, chirp?" Camio retorted.

Urushihara stared at the old Demon General who was once proclaimed to be one of the strongest members of his own clan, an expert swordsman and the mentor to the current Demon King and replied with a smirk.

"Nope, you're just a useless chicken now."

"That's right, chir…. Don't call me useless!" Camio seemed to have only caught the insult seconds too late.

Urushihara laughed and then stood up. He bent over the now sleeping lizard and lifted him up in his arms.

"Anyway, I guess you're right. We'll see if this works…"

Urushihara said these words as he walked to the open window leading to the backyard of the apartment. Suddenly, he fell to the ground on his knees, dropping Kinanah onto the ruined tatami mats and jolting him awake.

[Are we getting attacked? Is it the legion?! Caminijah, we must get ready…]

Kinanah's eyes snapped open and he started glancing wildly around with his red slotted eyes, muttering nonsensical words in the demons' tongue and calling for the former leader of the Pahalo Danino clan.

"Lucifer?! Oi! Are you alright, chirp?!" Camio asked, flustered and worried as he hopped in front of Urushihara.

"Ugh…I feel sick…" Urushihara hissed weakly as he clutched his stomach like he was in pain.

"Your hair….?!"

The roots of Urushihara's purple hair was rapidly turning a bluish silver and the color spread to the ends of his hair in a way that reminded people of ink dispersing in water.

After that, Urushihara managed to stand up and he started stumbling in a wobbly manner towards the sliding cabinet. He then climbed in, crawled to the far corner, and immediately curled up.

"Oi, what's going on, chirp?!" Camio hopped into the cabinet after the fallen angel and continued pursuing for answers.

[Caminijah! Caminijah! Where did you go, you bastard?!] Camio could hear Kinanah pattering around the damaged tatami mats and scratching the wall but he chose to ignore the ruckus.

"She's coming...ngh!" Urushihara suddenly started to groan in discomfort as he pressed his left palm on his forehead.

"The landl…?!" Maou had casually mentioned before that Urushihara seems to react very badly to the landlady being in the vicinity so it was pretty good guess on Camio's part. However, before the elderly demon bird could get an affirmation about his guess, he himself was hit by a wave of nausea.

The last time he had such a sensation was about two millennia ago when he was rattled around like a rag doll by the elephant beast clan which tried to invade his territory. (Camio managed to successfully defend his home at that time of course.)

Camio staggered and stumbled in a manner which he himself would have considered comical if he did not feel so ill. He could feel his own heart rate rising. Urushihara, meanwhile, seemed to have found the strength and willpower to slide the open cabinet door shut. The two were plunged into almost complete darkness.

Then Camio heard the door click open. The sound of someone's stiff pump heels tapping against the tiled portion of the entrance was heard. Then came the sound of someone inhaling very sharply through her teeth.

Something shifted around outside and Kinanah seemed to have stopped clawing the ground. A growl came from the lizard demon and then silence.

"Is that… chirpawk!" Camio turned in Urushihara's direction, attempting to get a confirmation, only to let out a surprised squawk when the other party grabbed him with both hands.

And hugged him close.

"What are you doing, Lucifer?" Camio whispered, flustered. No reply came. Camio could only hear Urushihara's rapid breathing and feel him trembling.

"Oi…"

Of course, Camio's sudden loud squawking must have given their position away. Just as Camio was intending the wriggle his way out of Urushihara's grasp, the cabinet door was slid wide open with a lot of force. Camio let out another surprised squawk and looked at the entrance.

Standing menacingly before them was a large, ample figured woman. The woman was wearing a dark purple dress, a shiny silver coat that hurt Camio's eyes as well as a ridiculously large hat that sat atop her head.

 _Is this a monster?_

That was the first thought that crossed Camio's mind. Though shortly after, he rationalised that this frightening looking human must be the landlady of the apartment, Shiba Miki.

"..."

Shiba stared wordlessly at the two demons for the while. Camio was debating if he should say something, flee or continue pretending to be a normal chicken.

"...what are you exactly?"

Miki spoke.

"?"

Camio tilted his head in confusion then he realised that that Shiba's gaze was not directed at him. It was at Urushihara. Urushihara did not respond but instead kept his head lowered, squinting like the light was hurting his eyes.

"Lucifer… your eyes…?"

 _Turned red._

There was no mistaking it. Camio had turned to look at Urushihara's face and saw that his usual amethyst eyes had turned a bright crimson red.

"What did they do to you?"

Shiba asked again, her face stern, but she did not get any response. Urushihara just continued trembling silently. Shiba looked on for a short moment and then walked a short distance away. As Camio's field of view was no longer blocked by her massive frame, he noticed that the torn up apartment looked as good as new. The tatami mats were no longer shredded and the wallpaper was perfect. In the corner of the room, Kinanah was sleeping in a sturdy metal cage. Then his line of sight went to Shiba who seemed to have taken a lavender notepad from her large expensive looking leather bag and started writing something on it with a fountain pen.

Camio shuddered as she finished whatever she was writing and kissed the bottom of it. Then she ripped the paper out, took out an envelope out of the bag, put the letter in it and stuck a heart shaped sticker sealing it shut.

With a few quick steps uncharacteristic of her size, she shoved the letter in front of Camio's face and somehow Camio clamped it with his beak instinctively.

"?"

A sweet overwhelming fragrance from the envelope overwhelmed Camio and he was contemplating spitting the letter out.

"Pass this letter to Maou-san."

"..."

Camio nodded.

"Or…"

"?"

Shiba then bent over and looking straight at Camio with eyes that were covered in sparkly eyeshadow,

"I'll cook you into curry."

Camio passed out.

* * *

Camio was not sure how much time had passed but he woke up to the sound of Maou calling out for him and and Urushihara.

In what seemed like a drunken daze, he noticed Maou opening the cabinet door, looking worried and saying something. Urushihara lifted Camio towards Maou who took the strong smelling letter from his beak.

A few seconds later, there was a loud thud and Camio could not remember what happened thereafter.

* * *

"Chirp?"

 _It feels like I slept for a very long time._

Camio shook his weary head to get rid of the last of the fogginess from his head.

 _Hm?_

Camio looked around him. He was still in the cabinet but the perfumed letter was no longer with him.

 _Oh yes, Satan came back…_

He managed to recall the incident that occurred a few hours ago.

 _Hm?_

And then realised he was still being cradled gently in Urushihara's arms. Camio turned his head to look at Urushihara and saw that his eyes were closed and he breathing softly.

 _Seems like he's back to normal._

A thin beam of light came in from the slightly ajar cabinet door and illuminated the inside of the cabinet. He could see that the silver hair atop Urushihara's head had turned back to its usual dark purple.

Lifting a wing, he patted Urushihara's face a few times.

"Chirp, Lucifer, wake up!"

Urushihara stirred a bit and with his eyes half open started mumbling.

"Five more minutes, Ashiya….ng?"

Then his eyes snapped open and he too seemed to have realised what was happening at the moment. He stared at the black chicken who was being wrapped in his arms and the black chicken stared back.

"Wah!"

"Chirppppp!"

Camio was unceremoniously released and dropped onto the cabinet shelf. Both demons let out a loud scream.

"Wha wha…. what happened?! Why were you… what the hell?"

Urushihara let out a rush of words, his face turned red and hot.

"How dare you drop me like that?! I just recovered from my injuries, chirp!"

Camio squawked back angrily at his treatment.

"Why were you in my arms?!"

"You're the one who grabbed me, you idiot, chirp!"

"I don't remember that!"

"You were shaking like a leaf when that monstrous human appeared! Chirp!"

"Eh?" Urushihara froze and as if he finally pieced together what happened and started recalling the incidents of the previous night, he suddenly buried his face in his hands. Camio could hear him mumbling some words that sounded an awful lot like "I-thought-you-were-something-else-that-was-so-embarrassing". Then Urushihara opened the cabinet door and started looking around.

"Where's Kinanah-uwah, she fixed the place?!" Urushihara noticed how spanking new the apartment looked and could not help but let out a gasp of amazement. Quickly leaving the cabinet, he went over to the metal cage where Kinanah was locked in.

"Seems like he's okay, I guess? What is that landlady anyway, being able to do this kind of magic…" Urushihara pulled the bars of the solid cage but they barely moved.

"...Then what are you?" Camio asked, remembering the landlady's question which had not been answered.

Urushihara turned back to look at the cabinet and shot an annoyed look at Camio. When Camio did not react in any way, Urushihara turned back to Kinanah with a sigh and shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know. Though a better question would be, what are we?"

"...True." Even Camio has realised that the sickness he felt in the landlady's presence was highly unusual. He had seen more disgusting things in his lifetime and Shiba was definitely not one of the top ten yet the reaction he had was as though he went back to the time when he had to step into the scene of the genocide of an entire clan whose bodies have been left to rot under warm temperatures for at least a week.

"And Camio?"

"What now, chirp?"

"Don't you dare tell the others what happened."

Camio tilted his head in confusion at first, mainly because he had no intention of recounting the incident to anyone else, including Maou. At least not all of it. Out of concern, he still planned to discuss the weird reaction he had around the landlady with Maou, but it was not so urgent that it needed to be done immediately. Then recalling the events from before and Urushihara's reaction, Camio then smirked triumphantly when he realised why Urushihara asked for that.

"Are you embarrassed, chirp?"

Urushihara glared at Camio.

"...Fine, chirp. I won't say anything. We have more important things to do."

"Good."

* * *

 **Moko-chan** : Done. Back part is a bit incomprehensible. Not sure if I have the flu, side effects from the flu vaccine or both.


End file.
